The Department of Homeland Security’s hiring drive has become a “s–tshow,” with waves of ICE agents arriving before badges, guns, or system access are ready for them.
DHS is struggling to add 10,000 extra Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to hit Donald Trump’s target of 3,000 deportations a day. Amid concerns over its potentially “catastrophic” vetting processes, Kristi Noem’s department has repeatedly stated that around 85 percent of its hires will be experienced law enforcement returnees.
However, insiders claim that the crash program has led to disorder, with some veteran agents performing minimal work for substantial pay and ballooning costs. “In many offices, the rehires showed up and we had nothing for them,” one Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) veteran told the Daily Beast.
“It has just been going so fast that the process is messed up. It has been chaotic to handle. Make no mistake, it is a s–tshow right now.”
DHS insiders said the money on offer has lured back former executive-level leaders from HSI and Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO)—with some of them taking home north of $250,000 for office-based shiftwork, per multiple sources who spoke to the Beast.
According to those familiar with the packages, the most senior HSI rehires return as GS-13s on the federal pay scale. With locality pay in high-cost areas—such as parts of Texas, California, and New York—adding 35 percent or more to a basic salary, agents can earn up to $137,000 in the majority of the country. This rises to $171,268 in more expensive parts of the country, such as San Jose and San Francisco.
Law Enforcement Availability Pay (LEAP) adds a further 25 percent for being available for substantial unscheduled duty beyond 40 hours. Add in ongoing federal pensions worth around $8,000–$9,000 a month, and some rehires can land well in excess of a quarter of a million annually, sources said.
Insiders explained that most of these returnees were being assigned to temporary posts “with no supervision,” and that “the vast majority are being used to process aliens for deportation,” which allowed permanent employees—who are often younger and fitter—to “get on the streets and make arrests.”
“Some older retired rehires are basically doing office-based shiftwork admin jobs, with no supervision, for like $300,000,” one HSI agent told the Beast.
Another DHS source said Trump’s signature immigration spending push had allowed leaders to “throw money around” amid “panic at the top of government” about lagging deportation numbers set by immigration czar Stephen Miller.
“There are calls with Miller, where everyone is being screamed at,” the official said. “The targets he is setting for them are ridiculous, and it is a case of them just spending any money they can to increase the number of officers and deportations.”
One experienced HSI staffer called the rehiring concept “right in theory” to boost removals, while also not ignoring other areas of Homeland Security investgations into criminal activity that is not related to immigration, and that while the execution was stumbling, “it will get ironed out eventually,” they added.
The Daily Beast contacted DHS for comment. A spokesperson for the department said: “ICE is NOT employing people for $300k a year to do administrative work.”
When asked whether it was paying some rehires $200,000 a year in salary and LEAP alone, it did not respond.
It did not address claims that the hiring process had been a “s–tshow.”
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